"No, sir, no legal business."
"Well, if you have any business, you may state it at once, as I am quite busy."
"It is about the boat which your son lent to Robert Rushton."
"I shall not interfere with that arrangement," said the lawyer, misunderstanding his object. "I told your father that this morning," and he resumed his writing.
"I did not come to say anything about that. The boat wouldn't be of any use to me now."
"Why not?" asked the lawyer, detecting something significant in the boy's tone.
"Because," said Halbert, in a tone which he could not divest of the satisfaction he felt at his rival's misfortune, "the boat's completely ruined."
Mr. Paine laid down his pen in genuine surprise.
"Explain yourself," he said.
So Halbert told the story once more, taking good care to make the damage quite as great as it was.